1. Technical Field
Example embodiments generally relate to an image carrier, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image carrier for carrying an image and a process cartridge and an image forming apparatus incorporating the image carrier.
2. Background Art
Related-art image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, facsimile machines, printers, or multifunction printers having two or more of copying, printing, scanning, facsimile, plotter, and other functions, typically form an image on a recording medium according to image data. Thus, for example, a charger uniformly charges a surface of a photoconductor; an optical writer emits a light beam onto the charged surface of the photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor according to the image data; a development device supplies toner to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor to render the electrostatic latent image visible as a toner image; the toner image is directly transferred from the photoconductor onto a recording medium or is indirectly transferred from the photoconductor onto a recording medium via an intermediate transfer belt; finally, a fixing device applies heat and pressure to the recording medium bearing the toner image to fix the toner image on the recording medium, thus forming the image on the recording medium.
Such photoconductor may be a photoconductive drum incorporating a shaft penetrating the photoconductive drum to enhance the mechanical strength of the photoconductive drum.
For example, JP-2009-063967-A discloses a flange inserted by press fit into the tubular photoconductive drum at each lateral end of the photoconductive drum in an axial direction thereof. The shaft is inserted into a through-hole produced in each flange. Thus, the photoconductive drum incorporating the shaft achieves an enhanced mechanical strength against bending and deformation.
However, an abutment member contacting the photoconductive drum may exert an increased force to the photoconductive drum or an increased number of abutment members may contact the photoconductive drum. Further, the photoconductive drum may have a decreased outer diameter or an increased length in the axial direction thereof. Accordingly, the photoconductive drum is susceptible to bending and deformation.